Ryan Clady, Broncos brass resuming NFL contract talks

If his multiyear contract extension isn't done by July 15, Pro Bowl offensive tackle Ryan Clady will play the 2013 season on a $9.823 million salary. But he also could bolt the Broncos next year as a free agent. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Ryan Clady has proven to be as tough at the bargaining table as he is on pass rushers.

The somewhat monotonous but extremely serious issue that is Clady's contract negotiations move to the center table this week at Broncos headquarters.

If a multiyear contract extension is not done by July 15, two things happen. One, the Pro Bowl offensive tackle must play the 2013 season on a one-year, $9.823 million salary that came when the Broncos placed the franchise tag on him.

No problem there.

Two, the chances increase that Clady would leave for free agency after the 2013 season.

That would be a problem. Clady isn't just one of the NFL's best left tackles. He's the blindside protector for a brilliant, if immobile, quarterback named Peyton Manning.

Broncos fans have read this before. The haggling between the Broncos and Clady is going on its second year. And the points of conflict have only become more complicated by a depressed players market and Clady's offseason shoulder surgery.

The two sides got serious at about this time last year, when the Broncos offered Clady a five-year, $50 million contract.

But Clady and his agent, Pat Dye Jr., rebuked the offer in large part because of how the deal's first three years were structured.

The $10 million annual average and $16 million in total guarantees were well below the $11.5 million annual average and $23 million in guarantees the Cleveland Browns gave left tackle Joe Thomas in a 2011 contract extension.

Negotiations between the Broncos and Clady broke off before training camp last year. Clady played the season on a $3.5 million salary. To his credit, he played extremely well.

He is one of only four offensive tackles in NFL history who started every game (80) through his first five seasons, and made three Pro Bowls. This would suggest Clady is worth every penny going forward.

The catch is that his ironman streak continued even though Clady suffered a torn labrum in his right (inside) shoulder near the end of last season. Clady played through the injury in the regular-season finale against Kansas City and in the Broncos' playoff loss to Baltimore, when he found it difficult to keep Terrell Suggs from pushing the pocket with one shoulder.

The injury will be on the Broncos' minds as they resume contract extension talks with Clady this week. So will the market value that declined for all players but quarterbacks this offseason.

It won't help Clady that Jake Long, who had been averaging $10.6 million a season through his first five seasons with the Miami Dolphins, signed with the St. Louis Rams in March in a deal worth $8.5 million per season.

To the public, contract squabbles can be a lose-lose situation for both sides. Few Broncos fans will feel sorry for Clady if, in the worst-case scenario, he has to play on a $9.823 million salary this season.

Then again, few Broncos fans will forgive team management if Clady leaves Manning's blind side after this season.

Not all kids who play baseball are uniformed with fancy script across their chests, traveling to $1,000 instructional camps and drilled how to properly hit the cut-off man. Some kids just play to play.